“Heh heh, you little rascal. You have to burn ten transport parties. Is that not simple? Yes, five or six transport parties will appear around here every day, except there’s an inconvenience: they are quite far away from one another, but they depart at the same time. You’ll probably have to stay here for a few days.”

Old Man Fang’s sleazy voice could be heard from the pearl. Blue Maple’s face immediately turned black when he heard that he could possibly be stuck here for a few days.

“Don’t be sad, you little rascal. This is something that you’ll have to go through at some point. This is the game’s main path, and eradicating the Demon race is the main objective in the end. Even if you leave society and live in seclusion somewhere in the wilderness, there’s still a possibility that the flames of war will spread to where you’re living in. Every corner of the continent was a battlefield for the great war one thousand years ago, and nobody could stand alone.”

Old Man Fang’s tone sounded like he was still joking around, but he was definitely more serious than usual.

“Alright. The pearl will inform you when there are transport parties around the area. One more thing: there could occasionally be demon scouts around the area. You should be careful, and not think about trying to kill them. Otherwise… heh heh.”

Old Man Fang recovered his usual personality after being serious for a few moments, and the voice vanished from inside the pearl.

One thousand years ago… one hundred years ago… rocs… Feather… the great war…

This game… isn’t what it looks like on the surface…”

Blue Maple thought about strange and incoherent things in his head after he finished listening to the old man from inside the pearl as he frowned slightly.

“Seems like you’re still hiding some things, Silent…”

In this same moment, elsewhere…

The setting was in a library inside a Rank 2 Main City within the newly opened Rank 2 city system.

Silent Observer still looked very elegant. Every movement and gesture was dignified and graceful as she read her books, except she didn’t have a masked man beside her. She was just reading her books.

Sunlight peeked through the window, and the light rays flickered as the curtains swayed. Silent Observer was in a very tranquil state in this moment, while the coffee on her table was already cold.

Silent Observer was very absorbed in her books. She felt a little thirsty, and her instinct made her pick up the cup of coffee on the table and she gave it a little sip.

The cold coffee caused Silent Observer to withdraw from her mild enchantment.

“Eh? The coffee’s a little cold. I’ll get a new one.”

Silent Observer smiled faintly as she placed her bookmark, closed the book, and left with her cup of coffee.

Silent Observer switched out after a few moments and returned. However, she didn’t get back in her seat to continue with her book, and she walked over to the window and out the door instead.

“Today’s weather isn’t too bad. Let me think about the time. It’s about time to start my class advancement quest, eh? Then… must have figured out something.”

Silent Observer muttered to herself as she smiled faintly and leaned against the window.

“Whoosh ~”

She sipped on her coffee as she smiled slyly.

However, that’s nothing much. It’s probably a good thing. He’ll probably come back after completing his class advancement. Should I create more trouble? The Lin family’s second prince alone doesn’t seem enough. He’s always been by himself, and he’s never really provoked any real enemies… that’s… a little troublesome.

Silent Observer seemed to be trying to sow chaos as random thoughts floated through her lead, like she wanted to create some excitement in this game world.

Let’s guess where he’ll go to next. Otherwise, there’s no more fun in all this. Will it be Azeriya? Perhaps not…

That was Silent Observer’s first guess, but she seemed a little dejected as she quickly tossed away the thought.

It’s unlikely that he’ll be in a border city… Perhaps, he’ll likely go to a random location. However, he probably doesn’t trust his master’s random teleportation…

Silent Observer chuckled awkwardly, evidently because somebody probably wouldn’t believe in chance anymore because of her.

Haih… I hate making coin-toss guesses.

She suddenly pulled a long face as she expressed her exasperation at things that she couldn’t guess.

However, her expression quickly smoothened as she smiled.

“Everything becomes a lot less interesting if I make the right guess all the time.”

Silent Observer looked out of the window as she muttered to herself as she thought about the bright skies and gazed into the distance.

“It’s March, and it’s spring season when the flowers bloom. It’s almost time to admire the flowers and the scenery… speaking of which…”

Silent Observer’s eyes lit up like she had suddenly recalled something.

“I wonder how the Japanese region is doing? Beautiful cherry blossoms can probably be seen after some time.”

The corner of Silent Observer’s mouth curved into a beautiful smile, and her smile that was filled with intelligence appeared exceptionally beautiful and enchanting underneath the sunlight.

“Cherry blossoms…”

……

Back in a border city in Demon territory, along the barren transport routes.

Blue Maple was lying down, facing up, on a smooth boulder. He appeared extremely bored.

Blue Maple felt lazy and bored as he perused Looming Shadow’s abilities. Even though he had already learned everything and used them before, he never liked the Thief class from the beginning to the end. He probably didn’t like any class besides Swordsman, and he could only accept a Swordsman’s skills. Therefore, he had only tested these skills out of curiosity before, and he had never truly used them in actual battle.

[Way of the Assassin] (Looming Shadow Unique Class Passive): This skill is only active when together a with Looming Shadow. You cannot use this ability by yourself before your third class advancement.

That’s a useless skill for now…

[Vanishing Shadow]: Gives you passive stealth, while activation enables a powerful invisible state. Movement speed is increased by 10%, body weight is reduced by 50%. The invisibility effect lasts for 60 seconds, while the effects gradually decline over 60 seconds. (You have Heavenly Fire, so you can perfectly use this skill’s passive effects, while you can fully unleash its active effects while together with a Looming Shadow. Active effects have a cooldown of thirty seconds, with a mana cost of 30 MP.)

[Void Backstab]: Can be activated within five meters of your target, and you can teleport behind your target to attack. A true strike will deal 150% damage and cause 1.5 seconds of dizziness. (The closer you are to your target, the faster you can activate this ability. This skill can be used in mid-air, and the longest cast time is 0.5 seconds. The shortest cast time is instant. This skill can be perfectly used when together with a Looming Shadow. This skill has a cooldown of 20 seconds, with a mana cost of 15 MP.)

[Disturbing Pierce]: Pierce through the target’s body and cause internal damage. The target will receive amplified damage under the piercing effect, while the piercing effect depends on the target’s armour and spatial power. (The longest case time is 0.5 seconds. The shortest cast time is 0.1 seconds. This skill can be perfectly used when together with a Looming Shadow. This skill has a cooldown of 20 seconds, with a mana cost of 20 MP.)

[Shadow Strike]: Can be activated within five meters of your target. You will transform into a shadow that pierces through the void to appear next to your target, with a crushing blow onto your target’s skull, dealing 150% of your damage and causing 1.5 seconds of dizziness. (This skill’s cast time is instant, and can be used in mid-air. This skill can be perfectly used when together with a Looming Shadow. This skill has a cooldown of 20 seconds, with a mana cost of 15 MP.)

[Shadow Slash]: You will transform into a shadow that will move rapidly beside your target. Every movement will deal 120% of your damage and cause bleeding. You can move three times, and bleeding effects stack. (This skill’s cast time is instant after immobilizing the target. This skill can be perfectly used when together with a Looming Shadow. This skill has a cooldown of 25 seconds, with a mana cost of 20 MP.)

[Decapitation]: After immobilizing the target, two daggers will cut down at the same time, dealing 350% of your damage. If your target is below 50% of his hit points, there’s a chance that you will instantly kill your target by decapitating him with your twin daggers! (The longest cast time is one second, and the shortest cast time is unknown. The decapitation effect can only be used against non-Boss targets. This skill can be perfectly used when together with a Looming Shadow. This skill has a cooldown of 25 seconds, with a mana cost of 20 MP.)

Blue Maple’s skills seemed very versatile, and he could engage in battle at range and also in close combat. He could fight a single target and also attack an entire group. Blue Maple’s skill set was very flexible.

However, Mystery’s skills were almost entirely created for killing, and its only purpose was assassination!

If the target didn’t have flexible skills like Blue Maple did, then the target would still be dead even if he or she had Blue Maple’s quick reactions!

There were three more skills that Blue Maple temporarily couldn’t learn, and he also didn’t know what they did. Blue Maple could guess that they were probably just used to kill people, and they were definitely quick, decisive, and extremely sharp!

Blue Maple’s main objective in his quest wasn’t to kill, but he couldn’t possibly complete his quest without killing a single opponent.

I should try to get closer to my target as much as possible and use two of this class’ flexible skills after controlling my target to quickly burn their provisions. Blue Maple combined his knowledge of those skills and Old Man Fang’s words as he started speculating.

And then… escape.

Blue Maple paused. He didn’t really like this outcome, but Old Man Fang did say that this was a cat-and-mouse game, and if the mouse were to succeed, and if the mouse didn’t run, then… the mouse would probably be dead!

What an interesting quest. Even though I don’t really like it, I’ll have to accept it for what it is.

Just like that, Blue Maple found a reason for himself to be more willing to complete this quest.

But… I should go back after this quest. Blue Maple suddenly had that thought and became a little melancholic.

“I won’t stay here anymore. These border cities are probably riddled with some boring wars and whatnot.”

Blue Maple started mumbling to himself and stopped thinking in his head.

“Azeriya… I won’t go back there for now.”

Blue Maple’s expression suddenly became a little unnatural. He was lying on his arm, and he subconsciously clenched his fists and he thought about Blue Snow, and about some other things.

“Random teleportation…?” Blue Maple muttered under his breath.

Who exactly is the old man? Is he just like Mystery? But… to have something to do with Silent Observer seems a little unlikely.

Blue Maple couldn’t help but frown when those thoughts occurred to him, and he seemed very frustrated.

“Tsk… Silent, what are you hiding from me? This game doesn’t seem like what it looks like on the surface. At least, that applies to Mystery.”

Blue Maple became increasingly frustrated, and he started to be suspicious about this game’s true objective.

Is this really just a game so that people will not waste five years during their slumber?

Blue Maple eyebrows were completely knitted together as his suspicions rose.

He paused for a few moments.

Forget it. Maybe I just have trust issues. Even if there are other reasons, what do they have to do with me?

Blue Maple couldn’t think through this, and he could only attribute that to his own unnecessary over-thinking, along with that carefree and casual personality that he had on the outside.

I should think about where to go afterwards. The mountains and the wilderness are quite boring/

Blue Maple’s thoughts returned to his original chain of thoughts, and he threw all his doubts and what he couldn’t understand to the back of his mind.

Blue Maple suddenly frowned again like he had just thought about something.

“Today… what time is it?”

Blue Maple activated his system panel and checked the date, something that he hadn’t seen for a long time.

Blue Maple was momentarily shocked when he saw the displayed time.

It was the year 2221, the fifteenth of March.

How can it be so quick…

“I met Tian Sha in my first week into the game, and I met Red Tea and the others after another week…”

“Two days later, I met the Legendary Thief, Little Stone… then, I was in the Japanese region…”

“Then, in the European region… Blue Snow…”

Blue Maple was momentarily stunned as his thoughts stopped there, and he stopped.

The date of our departure should have been around the fifteenth of January. Have I already been outside… for two months?”

Blue Maple was a little uncertain as he thought. He didn’t know what he had done throughout this entire time, while he didn’t have to pay attention to the date or whatnot in the game world, so he didn’t calculate the time that he had been outside.

Since that’s the case…

I’ll head down to Aika City for a look, and then…

I’ll go look for some cherry blossoms…

Those were Blue Maple’s thoughts as he decided his subsequent journey…

……

Perhaps, Blue Maple would have returned by himself, or…

Perhaps, Blue Maple wouldn’t have thought about going back if not for Blue Snow.